New Year

It's that time again- new year. We all tend to look back over the last year and wonder what we've done. Did we achieve anything? Was it a good year? What will we do different next time? It's tempting to compare ourselves to others and feel we didn't do enough. We didn't lose the weight or write a blockbuster. We didn't do this or that. Sod that. The best way to end the year is by thinking about what you did do and what was good about it. It could be just this: I survived. I learnt. And I'm ready.

For writers, new year is a great time to think about what you may like to do next. I started 2011 with only two goals- to keep writing and get placed in a competition. The reason? If I want to keep writing I need the occasional bit of encouragement, so I best do something to try and find a little validation. My goals seemed organic. I was unsure if they were small goals or unrealisitic. The trick to new year goals is keep them small, make them seem achieveable. If you're going to judge yourself, judge yourself on the steps you took to try and reach your goals, not the end result.

I'm finishing the year by making a list of things I liked about 2011. Give yourself a pat on the back for the things you did and liked, even if they are small. Build on them next year, so you can do more of what you liked, and less of what you don't need.

Things I liked in 2011

A big bag of felt & having a go at making little felt things for the first time without a pattern.

Winning Inkspill Magazine's Short Story Competition.

Learning to drink lemon green tea instead of too much hot chocolate.

Writing a poem for the Naked Muse charity calender

Making a pineapple upside down cake for the first time (quick like a cat, tip, and yes! gooey goodness!)

Being a runner up in Mslexia poetry competition.

Gaining bookshelf space- bags of books to Amnesty = lots of room for lovely new books.

Pushing my safety zone by doing more reviews.

Apples! Making apple wine & caramel apple cake I'd never done before.

Sending a story to Metazen I decided no one would ever like & getting it published.

Wasting less- donating more, buying less stuff I don't need.

Getting shortlisted in Mookychick's Feminist Flash competition.

The bumper tomato crop- making homemade tomato soup, tartlet, & roasted toms for the first time.

Getting a story in Pank

Becoming a red panda on cold days

Getting a story in Spilt Milk

FINALLY, getting jelly to come out the rabbit jelly mold in one piece! (soak in hot water very briefly, scratching the perimeter impatiently doesn't cut it.)

Kozyndan rabbit prints

Sloe gin, making our own liqueur

Getting a poem in Emergency Verse

Twin Peaks pencils

Getting two stories in The Journal

Giving a couple of things I haven't done before a go (f*ck doubt, sometimes, just do it, let how it goes decide if you can)

Writing a poem for an anthology

Coming second in The Short Story Competition 2011

Finally tackling the sewing machine (it's not a perfect straight seam, but so what? I made a bolster and some curtains that cost me nothing- why, oh why, did I spend a week sewing curtains by hand in 2010!)

Learning to be patient (I had a nice offer but turned it down after some thought- no regrets- being a writer is sometimes about patience, you don't have to take the first offer, if your gut isn't onboard, or the opportunity isn't right for right now- politely decline. Wait till you have the opportunity of something that feels right for you, or create one.) If someone wants you enough, they'll be happy to hear from you at a later date if you change your mind (by then your work will be even better, right? :) If not, they never had much faith in you anyway and you made the right decision.

Favourite Book of the Year: The Tiny Wife, Andrew Kaufman (they don't get much more beautiful than this)

Artist I played more than any other this year: Neko Case

Favourite Poem of the year: Jo Shapcott, I Tell the Bees

What I'm looking forward to next year:

We got halfan alotment plot in October. I've discovered the zen of digging. If nothing grows, well, I still dug.



Happy New Year to you all.